The commercial program “combines personal phone or in-person counseling with a portion-controlled regimen of pre-made foods supplemented with homemade side dishes,” according to Consumer Reports.

But what gave Jenny the edge over the other big-name diets?

… a 332-person, two-year study of the program published in the Oct. 27, 2010, Journal of the American Medical Association. Ninety-two percent of participants stuck with the Jenny Craig program for two years — a remarkable level of adherence (which critics have questioned) — and at the end of that time weighed an average of about 8% less than when they started.

When we last rated diets four years ago, the winner was the Volumetrics diet, based on eating high-bulk, low-calorie food. In a sense, it’s still a winner: The Volumetrics brand is now part of Jenny Craig, which is why we’re not rating it separately this time. As for taste, Jenny Craig’s prepared food was decent, though not great, as we noted in “Diet Taste-off” earlier this year.